Land Before Time: Great Valley Adventure Retold
by Avatar Emerald
Summary: Sequel to Land Before Time Retold. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike are happy to have found their new home. Aylene has earned her place in the Gang and visits them often. While they are enjoying their lives, a minor threat of two egg-eaters will soon prompt them into saving not only the Great Valley, but also a new and unexpected friend.
1. Prologue

**Land Before Time: The Great Valley Adventure Retold **

**Prologue**

**Here's the sequel to the Land Before Time Retold series. Now that Aylene has earned her place among the Gang, time to explore the second adventure. Join Littlefoot, Aylene, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike as they begin their next adventure, this time in their own home!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Land Before Time series, I am merely exploring an alternate story.**

* * *

A large greenish black sharp-tooth walked through the murky swamp of the Mysterious Beyond, carrying his catch of the day in his mouth. It had been a tedious hunt since there was very little prey in the area, but he finally managed to catch something. After eating his portion, he carried as much of it as he could back to the nesting ground.

He didn't get very far when he nostrils caught the scent of another sharp-tooth. He growled as he recognized the scent. He dropped his catch and stood over it, facing to the east as the scent drew closer.

"Come out!" he demanded in a deep threatening voice. "I know you're there!"

The intruder emerged from the rocks. This sharp-tooth had tannish hide, one yellow eye, and one red eye with a scar running all the way down to his talons, making one of them red as well.

"Strongfang," he answered in a mocking tone. "What a surprise."

"What do you want, Red Claw?" Strongfang growled, "And where are your little minions?"

"Screech and Thud?" the carnivore smugly answered, "Oh, off doing their own hunting. I just came to express my sympathy."

"What for?" Strongfang's eyes narrowed.

"Haven't you heard," the tannish carnivore sneered, "Sharptooth has been defeated."

Strongfang stepped back. "That's impossible! No one has been able to defeat him! You're just trying to deceive me!"

"You think I would lie about something like this?" Red Claw replied, "Nearly everyone in the Mysterious Beyond knows about it. Apparently, six little children took him down. A longneck, a threehorn, a spiketail, a swimmer, and flyer," Red Claw then slyly grinned, "and a human that looked an awful lot like Elaine."

Strongfang jolted up when he heard that name. "That can't be!" He shot back. "She hasn't been in this world for a hundred years!"

"That's what the story is," Red Claw haughtily replied, "My condolences for the loss of a family member."

Strongfang lunged forward and viciously snapped at Red Claw, who jumped away from the attack.

"Don't you DARE speak of my brother to me like that!" He roared.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve," Red Claw sneered again. "Oh that's right: Sharptooth may have been your brother, but you guys never got along. He was the ruthless one while you were the weak one."

"Don't make me kill you, Red Claw!" Strongfang fiercely growled.

"I didn't come here looking for a fight," Red Claw turned away, "I just came to tell you the news. But there is an advantage for me with Sharptooth being gone,"

"What would that be?" The other carnivore glared, becoming very annoyed by this arrogant fool.

"Now I will become the next "Walking Terror"!" Red Claw maliciously grinned.

"Ha!" Strongfang scoffed. "In your dreams! You'll never become the "Walking Terror", especially if you have to rely on two little fast-bitters to gather food for you as well. You're just a coward who only wants to be a threat, but you'll never be one! Now if you'll excuse me."

The male sharp-tooth picked up his catch and set out on his journey again. Red Claw scowled angrily at the brother of Sharptooth. How DARE he call him a coward! When Strongfang was out of hearing distance, he viciously snarled,

"I'll make you pay for that, Strongfang! "Just you wait! By nightfall, you won't have a precious hatching to wait for anymore!"

* * *

Strongfang walked to the cave on the outcrop over a small, murky swamp where his mate was resting. Right now, she was sleeping beside a nest with only one egg. Strongfang looked at the nest and felt slightly melancholy as he stared at the other broken shells beside it.

He and his mate made the foolish decision of going off to hunt together. When they came back, two egg eaters had nearly eaten their whole nest. They managed to chase them off, but the damage was already done. On that day, Strongfang vowed that he would protect his family no matter what the cost would be. While his mate would guard their only egg, he would go and hunt, bring back what food he could find.

The male sharp-tooth placed the meal down and gently nudged his wife.

"Rena," he softly said, "wake up."

Rena slowly opened her eyes and looked up at her mate.

"I brought you something to eat," Strongfang pushed the fresh meat toward her with his snout.

"Thank you," She sighed as she carefully got to her feet.

"How are you feeling?" The male asked.

"Calm down, Strongfang, I'm alright," She mildly replied as she began to eat the meat off the carcass.

Strongfang softly smiled at Rena. He was indeed glad that she chose him during courtship. Right now, she was the only family he had. As he thought of this, the news of Sharptooth stormed into the forefront of his mind. He looked away bitterly as he recalled what Red Claw had just told him.

"Strongfang," Rena noticed his change in mood and became concerned, "Is everything okay?"

Strongfang looked at his mate, "I heard news of Sharptooth today,"

"Is he here?!" The female fearfully jolted up.

"No," Strongfang responded, "He's dead."

Rena didn't respond, she just stared at her mate who was obviously troubled.

"Apparently," Strongfang continued, "He was defeated by five leaf eating children and a human that looked like Elaine."

"That…that can't be possible!" Rena whispered.

"That's what I said," her mate replied resentfully, "But Red Claw said that was the case."

"You honestly don't believe Red Claw, do you?" Rena rebuked. "You know what he's like."

"Even he wouldn't lie about this," Strongfang replied. "Sharptooth was the most feared of us bitters among the flatteeth AND our own kind. He abused his strength and even slayed his own kind. You really think Red Claw would lie about this?"

Rena looked down for a moment, and then shook her head. "You're right. But I thought you and Sharptooth…"

Strongfang shot an angry look at Rena, "I know Sharptooth was my brother!" He snarled. "But I'm not proud of it and you know that!"

"That's not what I was going to say!" Rena snapped. "I was going to say that I thought you and Sharptooth hated each other! And judging by your response, I can see you still do!"

Strongfang let out a deep sigh and turned away. "I'm sorry," he responded, "It's just that ever since those egg eaters…"

The sharp-tooth clenched, unable to bring himself to finish the story.

"I don't want to lose my only family," Was all he could say, feeling like a complete coward for admitting his weak spot.

Rena slowly walked up to him and gently nuzzled her face against his. He returned the gesture.

"I understand," she whispered gently, "but our egg's hatching day is almost here. I just know it. Once it hatches, then we'll leave this place and find a much safer home."

Strongfang nodded. The sooner they left this place, the better.

As his mate continued to eat her fill, he walked outside of the cave. He looked to his left and stared at the Great Wall. Beyond it was the haven for plant eaters: The Great Valley. Although he wasn't that interested in going into the place to begin with, he still wondered if there was anyway to get into it that no carnivore had discovered yet.

And especially upon hearing the news of what happened, he began to wonder if plant eaters were really intelligent, instead of being the mindless creatures that sharp-teeth had always regarded them to be. He then thought of those children Red Claw had described. He started to think that those children who defeated Sharptooth were some where beyond that wall.


	2. Chapter 1: A Peaceful Valley

**A Peaceful Valley**

_TWANG!_

_ZIP!_

_THUNK!_

Three times this sequence of sound occurred along with feet racing through the forest.

Littlefoot skidded to a halt and looked back over the path he had just raced across.

"How'd you do this time?" He asked the rider on his back.

Aylene leapt off and walked back toward the targets she had set up. She looked at the arrow closet and smiled with satisfaction.

"Closer than last time," She grunted as she pulled the arrow out and continued on to the next one. "Thanks for helping me practice today, Littlefoot. You know, I'm really starting to get the hang of riding you."

"No problem, Aylene," Littlefoot smiled and tilted his head. "Besides, it's kinda fun."

"Well, I can't exactly practice this kind of archery back in my world," Aylene shrugged as she pulled her last arrow out of the target. "I can practice in my backyard, but riding on an animal in my world, not so much. But this skill would come in handy in the future."

"I'll admit, you're world does sound very interesting," the longneck commented, "I would like to see it."

"Yeah," Aylene nervously bit her lip, "but like I said before: dinosaurs in my world are…you know."

Littlefoot nervously nodded, still slightly disturbed from the truth she had told him a while back.

"So having a live dinosaur show up would be...uh…chaotic to say the least," Aylene wrung her hands together as she imagined the consequences, which were not pretty, "Especially if you start talking. I know you shocked me the first time we met, and the took some doing."

"I understand," Littlefoot frowned.

"Besides," Aylene took the charm around her neck with her right hand and looked at it, "Grandma told me a while back that only humans can pass through the barriers of the worlds for some reason."

"Speaking of which," the Apatosaurus asked, "what is it like to go back and forth between worlds?"

"Well," Aylene thought for a moment, "Honestly, I'm starting to get used to it. The only thing that is problematic is that when I get back I'm usually dirty and sweaty. Fortunately, my bedroom is close to the bathroom so I just have to carefully sneak across the hall to take a shower.

"Plus my mom is starting to get suspicious about why she is washing my swimsuits so often even though I haven't be swimming recently to her knowledge," the girl rubbed the back of her neck. "And yesterday she commented to my dad that some of the spices and snacks are starting to go missing from the cupboards."

Littlefoot giggled slightly at the joke. By now, he knew roughly about what Aylene was talking about based on the stories she often told whenever she came back, which was nearly everyday now.

"It's a good thing that time stops in my world when I come here, or else I'd really be dealing with more awkward questions," Aylene grinned as she tried to lighten the mood, "Not to mention, I promised my grandma that I'd keep the Time Stone's power a secret."

Aylene then sadly looked away and rubbed her arm. Littlefoot knew Aylene well enough by now that she only does that when something's troubling her.

"Aylene?"

"It's just…" Aylene sighed, "I hate lying to my parents like this. But at the same time, I don' think they'd understand. I don't really know how to explain it, but when I'm here and with you guys, I feel like I'm a part of something much bigger than just me. But I'm sure mom and dad would just worry, but I can take care of myself now."

"I know you can," Littlefoot said with encouragement, "You've proven that when we first traveled to the Great Valley. Not to mention you also took care of us."

"Yeah," Aylene softly smiled as the memories of her first adventure returned to her. It only seemed like yesterday that she and her friends took down Sharptooth, the most feared Tyrannosaurs Rex in this world. That was certainly a battle she would never forget.

"Littlefoot!" A voice called. "Littlefoot! It's time to come home!"

"That's Grandpa," Littlefoot walked up next to Aylene, "C'mon , let's go."

Aylene nodded, slipped her bow over her shoulder and mounted back onto the longneck. He set off running through the trees to find the elder Apatosaurus.

The sun shone down through the leafs and the grass gently swayed as a breeze swept over the land. All around them, the Great Valley was abundant with rich vegetation that stretched for miles, all the way to the wall that enclosed the land. Waterfall poured down from the high cliffs and raced into crystal clear rivers. The rivers gently flowed into glass-like lakes that sparkled in the sun. Everywhere the two friends looked, they saw various herbivore herds grazing upon the lush food this home had to offer or little ones running around and enjoying the day.

Littlefoot and Aylene reached the elder longneck that was walking toward a small clump of trees. He looked down as the two of them and warmly greeted them with a smile.

"Hiya, Grandpa," Littlfoot happily said as he trotted to a stop.

"Hello, Littlefoot," Grandpa Longneck replied to his grandson. He then looked over at the little human on his back. "And welcome back, Aylene."

"Thanks, sir," Aylene smiled, "It's great to be back,"

"Would you care to join us for breakfast?" the elder longneck graciously offered.

"Sure," She nodded.

"Then come along you two," Grandpa Longneck gestured to another tree covered with leafs in the shape of stars.

"Okay, I'm hungry," Littlefoot replied as they walked toward the tree.

As they passed by a clump of grass, Aylene sharply turned back around.

"What's wrong, Aylene?" Littlefoot asked when he noticed her sudden action.

"Oh, nothing," Aylene shrugged, "I thought I saw the grass move."

The group continued on their way as two three-clawed hands parted the grass. A pale tan and gray Struthiomimus peeked out through the tall reeds and watched as the trio walk on. He looked at the creature riding on the little longneck and raised an eyebrow. He had never seen anything like it before. Was that the "human" that dinosaurs had been talking about lately?

Although he had been warned about this human's skill and intelligence, seeing her now made him start to have doubts. She looked so small in stature that she surely wouldn't much of a problem for him. Besides, no one was as clever as he was.

He soon lost interest in the girl as he looked over the rest of the valley and grinned maliciously.

"I like this place," he said out loud, "yes, I like this place a lot. Don't you Strut?"

The egg-eater heard a munching sound and looked down into the grass.

"Strut, get up here!" He ordered.

Another Struthiomimus popped up out of the grass and, much to the other's disgust, had grass in his mouth.

"What?" He swallowed his snack, "I'm eating."

"Spit that stuff out!" The other demanded, "Go on, spit it out!"

"But Ozzy," Strut complained, "I'm hungry!"

"Spit it out you grass guzzler!" Ozzy slapped his brother across the face, causing him to spit out the grass and cough. "No brother of mine is going to eat vegetation. Not while I'm around."

Strut sighed with frustration. "Then what are we going to eat, Ozzy?"

"Eggs, dear brother," Ozzy simple said.

"Augh," Strut groaned, "Last time we had those we were nearly sharp-tooth food!" He shuddered at the memory of a few nights ago, "Ugh, I'm going to sleep terrors for weeks!"

"Why do you think we came here," Ozzy looked out to the valley again, "Look around, the valley is full of nothing but stupid plant-eaters. As well as nice, plump, juicy eggs."

With that, the two set out through the grass, looking for a defenseless nest to snatch their next meal from.


	3. Chapter 2: Being Little

**Being Little**

The tree creaked and strained as Grandpa Longneck bent it over with his forepaw. On the end lowered to the ground was a single leaf in the shape of a star. Fresh dew the foliage had collected gentle splashed onto Littlefoot's nose as he stood up on his hind legs to retrieve it.

"Here you are, Littlefoot," Grandpa Longneck offered, "The last treestar's for you."

Immediately, Littlefoot snatched the leaf in his mouth and got back down on all fours. He quickly munched the treestar up and swallowed it.

"Great trick, Grandpa," Littlefoot happily said as he licked his lips.

"It's not a trick Littlefoot," the elder Apatosaurus chuckled, "All longnecks can do it."

Aylene, who was sitting on a nearby rock, smiled as she watched the two sauropods finish their breakfast. She then looked back down at the stick she was shaving with her pocketknife and continued on with her project. She already had something to eat so she decided to make some extra arrows. She was now on her last one, whittling the bark off to make a shaft.

"Great!" Littlefoot exclaimed, "Let me try, Grandpa!"

Aylene looked up again and saw the little Apatosaurus rush over to a small tree with a rather thick trunk.

"_I can already tell this isn't going to work,"_ Aylene thought to herself. However, not wanting to discourage Littlefoot, she held her tongue.

The longneck first tried to bend the tree down with just one paw, but it stayed straight up, refusing to budge. He then tried pushing it down with both forepaws, but all the tree did was wiggled slightly. Littlefoot grunted and slowly climbed up just a smidge, causing the tree to bend just a little.

"Careful, Littlefoot," Grandpa Longneck warned as his grandson continued to climb up the tree.

Like a catapult, the tree flung Littlefoot off and he tumbled for several feet. When he came to a stop, the ground underneath him started to shake. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a stream of dark smoke shoot out of the earth. He looked around quickly and realized that he was in the center of a geyser field.

Grandpa Longneck grabbed the little Apatosaurus but the scruff and pulled him away just as the geyser he landed on erupted with hot fumes.

"Littlefoot!" Aylene leapt from her place and ran toward the two longnecks. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Littlefoot frowned, "But I guess I'm too little, huh?"

Grandpa Longneck brought his grandson over and placed him on the ground next to Aylene.

"Well, you're name is "Littlefoot" after all," Aylene joked, trying to lighten the mood.

The longneck only looked up with a unenthusiastic glare.

"Sorry," Aylene bit her lip and looked away.

"You're still very young," Grandpa Longneck explained, sensing his grandson's frustration, "but you'll get the hang of it someday."

"Oh," Littlefoot stomped the ground with his forepaw, "I hate being little!"

Frustrated and just a little angry, the longneck dropped his head to the ground with a rather loud smack.

"Don't worry," His grandfather lightheartedly encouraged, "You'll be grown up soon enough."

"Yeah," Aylene smiled, "All of us grow up at some point."

"Easy for you to say," Littlefoot looked up at the human, "you're older than us."

"Yeah," Aylene shrugged, "but I'm still a kid technically. I still have some growing up to do."

From behind, there came a familiar voice.

"Hey Littlefoot! Aylene!"

The two looked over and saw just a few yards away near the foot of a hill was Cera. The little yellow triceratops smiled and motioned to them to come over with her head.

"C'mon!"

Littlefoot and Aylene smiled as they saw their friend.

"Grandpa, can we go play?" Littlefoot asked as he looked back at the elder Apatosaurus.

"Have fun," the elder longneck smiled as he lifted his tail, giving them access to the rest of the Valley.

"Thanks." Littlefoot smiled.

"Hold on, Littlefoot," Aylene rushed back toward the rock, "just let me get my things."

Aylene quickly folded her pocketknife up and put it back her bag. She took her newly made arrows and put the in her quiver. She strapped her quiver around her waist, hoisted her gym bag onto her shoulders, grabbed her bow, and then leapt onto the longneck's back.

"The Valley is wonderful place to grow up," Grandpa Longneck sighed as he watched his grandson and the little human race toward the yellow threehorn and disappear over the hill.

The trio met up with Ducky, Petrie, and Spike, who were waiting for the Watering Hole.

"Well," Aylene grinned, "looks like the Gang's all here."

"Let's play! Let's play!" Ducky cheered.

"Not it!" Littlefoot shouted.

"Not it!" Ducky followed.

"Well I'm not it!" Cera laughed.

"Me no it either!" Petrie flew above the group.

"I'm not it!" Aylene grinned.

"SPIKE'S IT!" The five gleefully shouted in unison.

The children laughed as they ran across the meadow, singing a little song they had made up as a way to express their happiness of finding their home.

"_C'mon let's go and run around _

_Run around_

_What beautiful feeling_

_We finally found a peaceful valley_

_And everybody's having a good time now!"_

* * *

Ozzy stuck his head out over the tall grass and sniffed the air. A delicious smell that only an egg-eater like him could enjoy reached his nostrils.

"Smell something Ozzy?" Strut asked as he stood up.

"Hmm, yes," Ozzy glanced in the direction the smell was coming from, "Breakfast! Follow me."

The two slowly crept toward a nest full of six eggs. It was surround by large, tall reeds near some trees on the opposite side of a dirt path. Just to the left of it was a small rocky slope that was pretty steep.

The mother of the nest wasn't anywhere in sight and Ozzy intended to take full advantage of it. He quickly walked over the nest and snatched an egg. Licking his chops, he anticipated the delicious meal right in his hand. He brought the egg to his mouth…

BOW!

The next thing this Struthiomimus knew knew, something hard dropped on his head and he was seeing stars. He didn't notice the egg fall out of his hand and land back into its place in the nest. When the dizziness subsided, he bit down on the object in his hand. He hollered out as the nasty jab of pain raced through his mouth.

It was the rock that had landed on his head. It had slipped down his face and took the egg's place. Annoyed, he threw it aside and spat out the little pebbles the bite had broken off.

"Ozzy," Strut peaked through the grass, "Did you get a…"

Strut winced and fell on his rump as a rock flew out of nowhere and hit him on the head.

"Egg…" He dizzily finished his sentence before falling over onto his back with a rather intense headache.

Ozzy forcefully rubbed his sore head and was and about to pick up another egg when a voice caused him to turn around and run back toward the tall grass.

"Hey, you kids!"

A Maiasaura hastily walked down the dirt path toward the slope.

"Stop rolling those rocks down the hill!"

On top of the slope, Littlefoot and Cera peaked over, inadvertently knocking one more rock down.

"My nest is in there!" The mother dinosaur pointed to the reeds of grass.

"Sorry," Littlefoot embarrassingly replied as the two walked away.

The group backed away from the ledge and sat down in grass, their little game spoiled.

"Aw," Cera sigh discouragingly, "it wasn't much fun anyway."

"Yep, yep, yep," Ducky replied downheartedly as she plopped down and leaned against Cera's side, "no fun at all."

Petrie lighted down ontop of the threehorn's frill and deeply exhaled.

"Boring," he dryly said.

"Then why were we doing it in the first place?" Aylene questioned.

Everyone just shrugged: why were they doing it in the first place? Well, it didn't matter anymore.

"Well, what do you want to do now?" Littlefoot asked.

Spike grunted as if he was saying "I don't know". Aylene just shrugged.

"I know!" Ducky happily leapt to her feet. "I know! We can go to the Sheltering Grass and play "Sharptooth Attack!""

The others laughed as Ducky ran around, imitating Sharptooth with small roars and snarls.

"No way," Cera shook her head in disgust, "Not if I have to be Sharptooth again."

"Hey," Petrie leapt off of the Triceratops and flew over to Spike, "How about Spike be Sharptooth?" the little flyer suggested.

Spike didn't respond. Instead, he just munched on the vegetation in his mouth.

"Oh, yes, yes, Spike!" Ducky jumped up and ran over to her adoptive brother.

"Okay, Spike," Petrie leaned down into Spike's face, "huh?"

"Please!" Ducky innocently begged.

After about three munches, Spike nodded in passive agreement.

"See," Petrie replied, "He no mind!"

Ducky jumped up and cheered for joy.

"Alright, let's go!" Cera got up.

"Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky leapt up onto Spike, "We are going to the Sheltering Grass!"

Aylene climbed on Littlefoot as the rest of the Gang slide down the smooth side of the hill away from the nest. Littlefoot reached to the bottom before coming to a halt.

"Wait, you guys!" He suddenly alerted.

The others stopped and looked at their leader.

"What is it, Littlefoot?" Aylene asked.

"The Sheltering Grass is on the other side of the sinking sand," Littlefoot concernedly stated.

"Sinking sa…oh, you mean the quicksand?" Aylene answered.

"I mean sand that pulls you under if you step on it," the longneck replied.

"Yep," Aylene nodded, "that's quicksand."

"So," Cera interjected, "What's your point, Littlefoot?"

"Well," Littlefoot shrugged, "my grandparents don't want me going across the sinking sand without them."

"Oh that right," Petrie said in a panic tone, "sinking sand dangerous!"

The Pteranodon then imitated something that looked like drowning, making bubbling sounds and he sunk down behind Cera's frill.

"Yes it is," Ducky sighed, "it is."

"Aw, you're just a bunch of eggs," Cera brashly jerked her head up, making Petrie tumble off her back and onto the ground, "I could cross the sinking sands with my eyes closed." The threehorn began to walk away boldly.

"With her eyes closed?!" Petrie jolted up.

"And not looking where she is going?" Ducky fearfully replied.

Spike gasped, dropped his head down and covered his eyes with his paws.

"That sound fun!" Petrie leapt to his feet. "Petrie try it!"

Petrie shut his eyes, stuck his peak up in the air, and began to walk. He didn't go more than a few paces before bumping into Spike's face, making both of them snap their eyes open.

They both screamed in surprise. Petrie nervously chuckled as he tried to calm himself down.

"Hey!" Cera called to the group. "Are you scaredy-eggs coming or not!"

Although they hesitated for a moment, Spike, Ducky, and Petrie began follow.

"Littlefoot! Aylene!" Ducky looked back at the two. "You guys coming?"

Littlefoot looked at Aylene and she looked away. This was a bad idea and she knew it. However, if the others were going, she and Littlefoot had to be there to get them out of trouble if the situation were to arise.

"We better go with them," She said.

"Okay," Littlefoot nodded. He didn't like the idea anymore than Aylene, but if a problem should occur, the others would need them.

With that, the group raced off toward the Sheltering Grass.


	4. Chapter 3: Quicksand Rescue

**Quicksand Rescue**

The Gang approached the Sheltering Grass, and the quicksand that stood between them and brush.

"How are we going to get across?" Littlefoot hesitantly asked. Every instinct in his mind was telling him that this was a bad idea, but how was he going to convince the others that it was?

Cautiously, Ducky stuck her foot into the goo. The quicksand grabbed her foot and she struggled to pull it out. As soon as her foot was out, she quickly backed away right into Aylene's leg.

"I cannot swim in this," She stated, "oh no. No, no, no."

"Guys," Aylene nervously began, "I seriously think that…"

"Petrie fly across!" The Pteranodon cheerfully flew up and hovered over the group.

"Petrie, we no have wings," Ducky giggled, "No, no, no, we cannot fly."

Petrie groaned as he gracefully dropped back down to the ground. He frowned at the reminder that his friends couldn't fly like he could.

"Poor Petrie," Ducky caringly empathized.

"Guys," Aylene tried to explain again, "This is a really bad idea. I think we should…"

"My dad just jumps from rock to rock," Cera proudly answered.

"Yeah," Littlefoot replied, "but your dad's got longer legs than us."

"_Does anyone even remember I'm here?"_ Aylene irritatingly thought to herself.

"Big deal," Cera shrugged, "I could do it, too. Watch."

"Cera, wait!" Aylene reached out.

Before the human could stop her, the little Triceratops ran forward and jumped. As she landed on the closest boulder sticking up out of the goo, her hind legs fell into the quicksand for a moment. She managed to pull them out and balance herself on the small rock.

"See?" She brashly looked over her shoulder. In doing so, she lost her balance and fell over into the quicksand.

"CERA!" The others shouted.

Cera thrashed around violently as the quicksand held her firmly in its clutches.

"Cera, hang on!" Littlefoot rushed forward with Spike and Ducky following.

"No, guys!" Aylene shouted. "Stop!"

Before she could do anything, though, Littlefoot leapt onto the rock where Cera had landed with Ducky on his back. The swimmer slide down his neck, off his snout, and grabbed Cera by the horn while Littlefoot grabbed Ducky's tail.

"Guys!" Aylene cried out as Littlefoot lost his balance on the rock and his forelegs fell into the muck.

As he struggled to regain his balance while keeping a hold of Ducky, he slipped and his head dunked into the goo. He lashed his head out and shook the quicksand off.

"Oh no!" Petrie franticly flew around the group. "What can we do?!"

"I'll go for help!" Aylene was about to dart off when Petrie flew in front of her.

"No!" He shouted fearfully in her face. "We're not supposed to be here! If grown ups find out, we all in big trouble!"

"Petrie," Aylene protested, "we need help!"

"Hurray, Spike!" Ducky shouted as the Stegosaurus leapt onto the rock and began to pull on Littlefoot's tail to keep the longneck from falling all the way in.

"That it Spike, you help!" Petrie shouted. "Wait, I help! I pull, too!"

"No, Petrie, don't!" Aylene called out.

But the little flyer had already grabbed hold of Spike's tail and began to pull as hard as he could. It was a tug-of-war contest as the group struggled to pull their friend out of the quicksand and doing their best not to fall in as well. Cera continued to struggle and coughed as the goo tightened its grip around her.

To Aylene's horror, Littlefoot and Spike lost their footing and the whole group plunged right into quicksand!

"HELP! HELP!" They all shouted and screamed as they thrashed wildly in a panic. Petrie tried to fly out but the gunk on his wings made them heavy and continued to weigh him down. Ducky scrambled to get onto Littlefoot's head, but continued to fall back into the quicksand.

"GUYS, STOP STRUGGLING!" Aylene ordered. "YOU'LL ONLY SINK FASTER!"

Everyone stopped and looked at Aylene. Her face was very pale and she was trembling. Although they were frightened, they heeded her warning and stopped thrashing wildly. The sand continued to pull them under, but the rate was much slower.

"Aylene, help us!" Ducky pleaded as she felt herself sink even more.

It was defiantly too late to go look for the adults now, Aylene knew she would have to save them on her own.

"Don't worry!" the girl gestured gently with her hands, "I'll get you out! Just stay calm!"

"Okay," Littlefoot panted as the sand slowly continued and pull him under, "Just hurry!"

Aylene looked around franticly for something useful. When she looked to her right, she saw that high up in a tree was a large, long vine. That would do it! She ran toward the tree and without a moment of hesitation, began to climb the trunk. Forgetting her fear of heights completely, she reached the branch the lower end of the vine was resting on and threw it over to the ground, having a good chunk land with a heavy thump.

She only hesitated for a moment as she grabbed the vine and prepared to slide down it. She took a deep breath, released the branch, and then let herself slip down the vine with ease.

"AYLENE, HURRY!" Cera choked. She was up to her neck by now and was just barely keeping her head up.

"_Oh, why do I always have to save them?"_ Aylene thought as she grabbed the end of the vine, ran toward the edge of the quicksand and threw it at the group.

"Cera, Ducky, Petrie, you first!" Aylene shouted.

Cera managed to grab the end of it with her mouth and held onto it tightly. Petrie and Ducky gripped the vine for dear life as Aylene began to pull them out.

The human's arm and leg muscles screamed in pain as she strained to pull the weight on the other end. Her feet dug into the ground and she struggled to walk backwards. She eventually turned around, hoisted the vine over her right shoulder, and began to trudge along. The vine began to burn her skin as it harshly rubbed against her shoulder. Still, she continued on, not stopping for a second.

Doing her best to help, Cera lightly treaded through the muck and get the edge.

After a slow effort, Aylene eventually pulled Cera, Petrie, and Ducky out of the quicksand and onto the safety of the solid earth.

"Now help me save Littlefoot and Spike!" The human heaved as she through the vine back out into the quicksand.

"Spike, you go first!" Littlefoot ordered as he handed the end to Spike as he was the one who was almost up to his ears by now.

Spike grabbed the vine and the others on the shore immediately began to tug. With the extra help, the group pulled Spike out quickly.

"Littlefoot, catch!" Aylene threw the vine out one last time.

Before Littlefoot could catch it, the vine fell short. As he lunged forward to get it, the quicksand held his legs firm and his head dunked back into the muck. To everyone's horror, he wasn't coming up quickly. His back and neck strained, but his head remained under the gooey sand.

"LITTLEFOOT!" Aylene quickly rushed forward and jumped.

"AYLENE!" The others fearfully shouted as she made her move.

Aylene clumsily landed on the boulder the others attempted to jump to and then purposely leapt right into the quicksand. The goo quickly formed around her and tried to pull her under. She ducked down as low as she could, without going under completely, and began to feel for the longneck's head. When she found it, she immediately began to push up with her right hand and rapidly cleared away the muck on top with her left. After a few horrifying seconds, she yanked the longneck's head out of the muck and he gasped and coughed for air. Terror glistened in his eyes as he turned and saw his friend.

"A-Aylene!" the longneck choked.

The human then grabbed the vine, pulled enough of it out for Littlefoot to grab with his mouth before grabbing it with both hands.

"PULL!" She ordered.

The others didn't hesitate for a second; the moment the two grabbed the vine they strained to pull their friends out. After about a minute, Aylene and Littlefoot scrambled out onto shore. The others collapsed and panted as their wave of panic slowly began to wash away. Littlefoot, however, still frightened by the event of almost suffocating, collapsed in Aylene's lap and trembled violently.

"I was so scared," he whimpered as he rubbed his face against her shoulder.

"It's okay," Aylene whispered tenderly as she hugged her friend and gently rubbed his back, "It's okay."

As Littlefoot rested on her lap, she could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest against her leg. She herself tried to steady her own breathing as the event left her feeling unnerved. Her nerves trembled and she almost went completely numb at the thought of what almost happened. She shook the thought away, reminding herself that it didn't happen and that her friends were safe now.

After few minutes, the group eventually calmed down. Slowly getting to their feet, they began to walk away from the quicksand.

"Is everyone alright?" Aylene asked when they were a good distance away.

"We are now," Cera replied, "thanks, Aylene. You know, it is handy to have you on our team."

To everyone's surprise and fear, Aylene didn't smile at the compliment. Instead, she glared at the group.

"Aylene?" Littlefoot stepped back

"If I'm so handy," Aylene put her hands on her hips, "then didn't you listen to me?"

"We thought that we could make it," Ducky shyly answered, "We're sorry if we worried you."

"Worried me?!" Aylene sharply raised her voice, making the kids step back in alarm. "You guys scared me to death! If something happened to you I don't know what I'd do! Don't ever scare me like that again, understood?!"

The children nervously nodded in agreement. It was so unlike Aylene to get this angry that despite her small physique, she looked rather intimidating. The slightly coiled back as they felt guilty of what they did to their friend.

Aylene also realized her affect on her friends and felt guilt rise in her chest. She looked away and bit her lip.

"Guys, I'm sorry," She glanced nervously to her right, "I just…"

Aylene sighed as she found herself unable to finish her sentence.

"It's okay," Littlefoot replied sheepishly, "the important thing is that we're okay and the grown ups didn't catch us."

"Catch you doing what?" A harsh, deep voice came from behind, making the children jump.

The Gang nervously turned around and saw the dinosaur adults standing over them, looking down on them with daunting glares.

"Daddy," Cera nervously smiled as she addressed the old threehorn who called them out, "Uh…how long have you all been standing there."

"Long enough to hear a few things," Topps replied with a small hint of anger in his voice, "What was with all the screaming? It sounded like you were calling for help. And why are all of you covered in sand?"

The group of friends looked at each other with worried expressions.

"Oh, we are so busted," Aylene said in a dry tone before sighing, "we might as well own up, guys."

Knowing that a lecture or two was coming their way, the children related their story about the quicksand incident. Needless to say, the grown ups were not pleased one bit.


	5. Chapter 4: Run Away

**Run Away**

The Night Circle gradually grew brighter as darkness slowly trickled across the land. Strongfang continued to stand watch over the nesting ground while Rena slept next to the egg. His encounter with Red Claw and the news of his brother troubled him greatly. Ever since he heard about Sharptooth's defeat, memories of his youth continued to play over and over in his mind, especially the one when his brother committed that horrific crime over a hundred years ago.

* * *

"_Sharptooth, how could you do this!?"_

_Sharptooth turned and looked at Strongfang. Fresh blood dripped from his fangs, blood from the body of the dead biter that lay at his feet. However, this wasn't just any biter: it was his own father!_

"_Only the strongest can survive," Sharptooth snarled, "This old fool was weak."_

"_He was our father!" Strongfang protested in horror. "He just refused to go along with your plan! You didn't have to kill him for that!"_

"_Really?" Sharptooth slowly marched toward the younger biter. "Do you not remember what that herd of longnecks did to us? They killed our mother and other members of our family! Justice must be done!"_

"_They were just defending themselves!" Strongfang shouted as he stepped back. "And this isn't justice; this is wrong!"_

"_You sound just like that fool of a father," Sharptooth growled angrily, "You still believe what he told you about the "balance" of the world. Well, HE is the one who was wrong!"_

"_No!" The young biter protested again._

"_It is WE who rule over the leaf eaters!" The elder brother roared. "They are just mindless creatures that only exist for us to prey upon! Not to mention that it was longnecks that killed our family! They must be wiped out!"_

"_You don't feel love for our family anymore!" Strongfang's eyes flashed in anger. "You feel nothing but hatred now! And I will not allow you to use their death as an excuse for your unforgivable actions!"_

_Sharptooth lunged at his younger brother, attempting to bite his throat. Strongfang back away and struck the elder in the back with his jaws. The two brothers fought in rage and anger. Blood flew through the air and splattered on the ground as they struck each other and barely dodged the other's attack. The sounds of their roars and snarls could be heard for miles. Every leaf eater within a five-mile radius fled in a panic._

_The Bright Circle was near the edge of the western horizon when the two carnivores' ended their battle. Although much blood was shed, but both remained alive._

"_You know I hold the same strength as you," Strongfang grunted in pain, "You can't beat me!"_

_Sharptooth looked at the biter._

"_That maybe," He wickedly grinned, "but I have other ways of hurting you."_

"_What do you mean?" Strongfang narrowed his eyes._

"_Consider this as a promise," Sharptooth stood as tall as he could and looked down on the younger biter, "When you find a mate and have hatchlings, know that I will find you and your family will die by my own jaws."_

_Strongfang's eyes widened in horror. "You would really kill your own kin?!"_

"_Kin?" Sharptooth scoffed. "You never were my brother! Your heart is too soft!"_

"_At least I HAVE a heart!" Strongfang bellowed. "Unlike you! You're nothing but an empty shell now! You're mad, Sharptooth! MAD!"_

_The younger carnivore charged at Sharptooth. The behemoth swung his tail, knocking Strongfang in the side, and the biter fell to the ground. The cuts on his body stung horribly as dirt made contact with the openings. He twisted in pain and breathed heavily. He looked up, both angrily and fearfully, at the monster before him._

"_Mark my words," Sharptooth snarled viciously, "The day will come when all will fear me, both leaf eaters and biters alike. Fear itself will strike their hearts when they so much as hear my name. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some hunting to do. I think I'll start with the place that is supposed to be a haven for the leaf eaters: The Great Valley."_

_Shaprtooth turned away. "Farewell, Strongfang."_

_The fearsome biter then walked away into the light of the Bright Circle, cast an ominous shadow behind him._

"_SHARPTOOTH!" Strongfang roared in rage._

* * *

Strongfang snorted as he tried to shove the memory out of his mind. Those events happened a long time ago. Now with Sharptooth dead, there was no reason for him to worry about it anymore. He no longer had to worry about that monster coming after his family.

However, his pondering drifted back to the news of who killed Sharptooth: a young longneck, threehorn, swimmer, flyer, spiketail, and a human who looked like Elaine.

If those little hatchlings were capable of killing his brother, the most unstoppable force that he knew of, he could only imagine what they could do when they grew up. Of course, he figured the only reason why they were able to succeed in the first place was because they had Elaine on their side.

Strongfang knew Elaine fairly well. Mostly from the stories he had heard about her and her longneck companion, but also due to an encounter of his own. He knew she was smart, brave, and pretty skilled with that strange stick of hers. However, the encounter with her was an…unexpected one.

The biter shook his head. He didn't want to think about that right now. He turned and looked back at Rena. A sense of comfort washed over him as he watched her sleep, like all that was horrible in his past meant nothing now. He slowly walked over and laid down on the other side of the nest. He looked at the egg lying among the dirt and softly smiled.

"_I promise,"_ he solemnly thought, _"I will not let anything happen to my family."_

Sleep eventually overcame the mighty creature. Strongfang yawned one last time before closing his eyes and letting himself rest.

Watching from a far distance near the edge of a cliff, Red Claw maliciously grinned as he saw his chance to take his revenge.

"Screech! Thud!" He commanded in a hushed voice.

Two fast biters, one blue and the other green, emerged from behind the rocks.

"Yes, Red Claw?" the blue one answered in a raspy voice.

"While I create a diversion," Red Claw growled in a low voice, "one of you will sneak into the nest, grab the egg, and get out. But remember, I want it unharmed. If I'm going to enjoy my revenge, I want it to be unspoiled!"

The three silently began to creep close to the sleeping family.

* * *

Ozzy peaked out from behind the rocks at the foot of the Great Wall and grinned.

"Now is the time for all good little eggs to be safely tucked into their nests," he cunningly sneered.

"I wouldn't mind being tucked in," Strut yawned as he laid down, "I'm "egg"-austed." He briefly laughed at his own pun.

Ozzy looked down at his brother with annoyance and kicked him in the snout. Strut grunted and shook his head.

"Would you stop complaining!" Ozzy snapped.

"But Ozzy," his younger brother complained, "I'm tired. And I'm hungry. Couldn't I just have an ity-bity little green nighttime snack?"

"No!" Ozzy harshly scolded. "Can't you see I'm trying to wean you away from that "stuff". From now on you've got to think, feel, and breathe only one food group: eggs."

"Ozzy, what's the matter with a little vegetation?" Strut questioned. "Last time we had eggs we were nearly sharp-tooth bait!"

"Are you still fretting about that?" The elder egg-stealer groaned.

"Yes, I am as a matter of fact," Strut snapped, "If you hadn't insisted on us eating the whole nest we wouldn't have been chased at all."

"And we still left behind one juicy egg," Ozzy mumbled angrily to himself.

"Ozzy," Strut moaned again, "Can't we for once play it safe and just have some green food instead?"

"Do not worry, dear brother," Ozzy looked out over the Great Valley, "The Valley will be asleep. Tonight, we feast."

The two quickly and quietly ran across the Valley. They hid in the shadows as best they could, search for herds with a nest full of eggs. As they approached two elder longnecks and a hatchling, they crept among the tall grass until they were out of earshot.

* * *

"Littlefoot," Grandpa Longneck said as he lowered his head toward the little hatchling, "You're grandma and I just don't want to lose you."

"You are all we have," Grandma Longneck replied.

"It's so hard to be little," Littlefoot sighed with frustration.

"Oh, you'll grow up faster than you think," Grandma Longneck softly laughed. "Be patient. Enjoy being young while it lasts."

"And stay close to the herd," Grandpa Longneck added.

Littlefoot groaned at the lecture.

"We feel safe here in the Valley," The elder male Apatosaurus looked out toward the surrounding rocks, "The Great Wall protects us from sharp-teeth and other dangers of the Mysterious Beyond. But there are dangers in Valley as well, Littlefoot. You must always be careful."

"But my friends…" the little longneck began.

"Hush now," Grandma Longneck gentle interrupted, "It's time for sleep."

She then looked up and scanned around the area. "Where'd Aylene go?"

Littlefoot sadly looked down at his forepaws for a moment and then looked toward the river. "I saw her go that way."

Grandpa Longneck walked toward the river and saw the human girl sitting on the edge of the bank, gazing at her reflection. Her legs dangled off the edge, just inches away from the water and she sat in a slumped position.

"Aylene?"

"Yes, sir?" Aylene turned around, showing a dismal face.

"Are you alright?" The Apatosaurus asked, concerned about her emotion.

Aylene shook her head. "I'm still thinking about what happened today. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."

Grandpa Longneck lowered his head to her level. "Oh, Aylene, I know you didn't mean to make the other children feel bad. I understand that you got scared."

Aylene looked away. "I just…"

The human nervously licked her lips and then sighed. "Ever since Littlefoot's mother…"

Aylene grimaced as the memory of that terrible night stormed into her mind.

"I still have nightmares about it," she confessed, as she gripped her head, "I can't help but think that it was my fault."

"Aylene…"

"I just keep thinking that if maybe if I would've done something sooner," the girl bitterly continued, "Sharptooth wouldn't have…"

Aylene struggled to prevent herself from crying.

"I…I just don't want to lose my friends!" She tearfully replied. "I don't want to see Littlefoot hurt like that ever again!"

Aylene hid her face and shivered as she forced herself not to shed a tear. Grandpa Longneck looked at the little human with sympathy and gently nuzzled his face against her. The girl lifted her face and looked at the mighty sauropod as he did.

"I understand, Aylene," the Apatosaurus kindly said, "I, too, want to keep my family and friends safe. But what happened then wasn't your fault. And what you've done since then is what matters. I can tell you've become stronger than when we first met you."

Aylene slightly smiled at the compliment.

"Now come," the longneck began to turn away, "It's time to sleep."

"Okay," Aylene got up and followed Grandpa Longneck back to the nesting ground.

The human walked over to Littlefoot, who was curled up in a ball, while Grandpa Longneck continued over to his mate. The little Apatosaurus was about to fall asleep when he saw Aylene coming toward him.

"Hey, Littlefoot," she said as she sat down and leaned against his side.

"Aylene, listen" Littlefoot looked at her with a guilty expression, "I'm sorry that I scared you today. I didn't mean…"

"It's okay," Aylene interrupted, "I'm sorry I yelled at you guys. I didn't mean to sound so angry."

Both fell silent, unable to express their apologizes further more.

The wind gently rustled the leaves in the trees and the night rang with the sound of cricket chirpings. The stars twinkled brightly above in the sky and the full moon shone down on them with a radiant glow.

They were both about to fall asleep when they heard a hushed voice.

"Littlefoot, Aylene!"

Both turned in the direction where the voice was coming from: through a patch of tall grass that was just behind them.

"Cera?" Aylene whispered.

"Guys, over here!" The voice came again. It was Cera's voice, no mistake about that.

The two got up and quietly walked over to the tall reeds. Cera poked her head out slightly and looked at them.

"What you doing here?" Littlefoot whispered.

"I can't sleep," Cera replied in the same hushed voice, "It's important. We've gotta talk."

As Cera turned back into the grass, Littlefoot and Aylene poked their heads through.

"Now?" Littlefoot answered rather loudly.

"Shh!" Cera quickly silenced, "Yes, now."

When Littlefoot hesitated, the threehorn got back in his face and mockingly asked, "Scared of the dark?"

"I'm not scared," Littlefoot mildly shot back.

"Then c'mon," Cera motioned with her head, "let's get the others."

"Just give me a minute," Aylene quietly rushed over and grabbed her things.

"_I have a feeling we're going to have an adventure tonight,"_ She frowned as she thought of this.

The human then quickly jumped onto Littlefoot's back and they three ran off into the night to gather the rest of their little herd.


	6. Chapter 5: The Chase Begins

**The Chase Begins**

The moon was high in the night sky as the Gang rested on top of Tall Peak: the higest plateau on the east side of the Great Valley. While Littlefoot, Aylene, Spike, Ducky, and Petrie sat down, Cera remained on her feet.

"Yep, yep, yep, we are all here," Ducky sighed, "Yes we are."

"But what we here for?" Petrie shrugged.

"Yes, is there a problem?" Ducky asked.

"Grown-ups!" Cera spat as she walked by the group. Like a general addressing her troops, she looked back at the others and commandingly asked, "I suppose you all got the same lecture I did?"

"Mm-hmm," everyone except Aylene nodded.

"Me too young to wonder far," Petrie sarcastically waved as he tried to imitate his mother both in voice and action.

"We are not grown-ups and should remember it," Ducky tapped her head with her finger.

"There are many dangers," Littlefoot blandly replied as he rolled his eyes, "I must always be careful."

"Don't hang around with longnecks, beak faces, spike-tails, and humans," Cera gruffly stated.

Realizing what she said, she worriedly looked back at her companions, who were all looking at her with surprised and slightly offended expressions.

"Well," she sheepishly replied, "It was mostly the same lecture."

"C'mon guys," Aylene spoke up, "the adults are just worried that you'd get hurt."

"THAT's the problem!" Cera stomped into Aylene's face, making the human and the others lean back. "They don't think we can take care of ourselves. We've got to do something so that the grown-ups will stop treating us like hatchlings!"

"Cera right!" Petrie folded his wings and leapt next to Cera.

"I agree," Ducky replied, "I do, I do!"

"Guys," Aylene forcefully said, "You nearly drowned in quicksand today! If anything happened to you, how do you think they would feel! The reason why they're protective is because they care!"

"Hey, who's side are you on?!" Cera snapped.

"It's not about sides!" Aylene shot back. "It's just that I'm the eldest of the group so I have to be responsible for you!"

Everyone looked at Aylene with inquisitively surprised expressions.

"What?" She awkwardly asked.

"Aylene," Littlefoot gently said, "Is something wrong?"

"Why would there be anything wrong?" The human looked at the longneck.

"Well, we know you wouldn't be acting this way if everything were fine," he replied, "You can tell us, we're your friends."

Aylene glanced away for a moment. The way they were looking at her was making her feel uncomfortable. Since they seemed to share the same opinion about not wanting to be controled, she wasn't sure how they would take her side of things.

She sighed as she realized that she wasn't going to have any relief until she told them the truth.

"Okay," she admitted, "something has been troubling me."

"Well then, tell us," Ducky walked over and placed a hand on her arm, "maybe we can help."

"It's just that…" Aylene hesitated as she searched for the right words to say. Finally, she looked over at Littlefoot with a gloomy expression and rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm sorry to bring this up, Littlefoot, but ever since your mother…well…"

Littlefoot looked sadly away as the memory of that fight with Sharptooth came back to him.

"Ever since that night," Aylene tentatively continued, "I've always been afraid of losing you guys. I've also always been afraid of seeing you guys hurt."

"But you never afraid, Aylene," Petrie said, "You always brave. Remember when you stood up to Sharptooth?'

"Of course I remember," Aylene looked at the flyer, "that's why I feel like it's my duty to protect you guys. Because you're more than just my friends, you're my herd. That's why I got so scared today. For a moment…I thought I was going to lose you."

Aylene pulled her knees in and hugged her legs as she finished her confession, which actually sounded stupid and desperate to her now that she said it aloud.

The others looked at each other with sympathetic faces as they heard the human's story. Littlefoot felt his throat constrict as he realized that his mother's death not only affect him, but Aylene, too. He had no idea how much of an impact it had on her. However, it did explain a lot of things.

The longneck shifted his position slightly and gently nudged the girl's face. She smiled slightly and patted him on the head.

"You should've told us sooner," Littlefoot replied.

"I know," Aylene shrugged, "I just never knew how to say it."

The others looked down at the ground as they thought about how their actions affected their friend. Even Cera, who was still rather angry at the fact the grown ups were constantly telling them what to do, felt a nasty jab of guilt.

"I don't mean to make you guys feel bad," Aylene sighed as she turned around and looked over the edge of the rocks, "I just hope you realize now why I acted the way I did. Although I…"

Before Aylene could finish her sentence, she spotted two creatures walking away from Ducky's nest near the base of the plateau.

"Struthiomimus!" She jolted up in alert.

Everyone sharply turned and looked to where she was pointing. They gasped in terror as they saw that one of them had an egg in its clutches.

"Hey!" Littlefoot exclaimed. "They're stealing an egg!"

"They're egg-napping part of our family!" Ducky whispered in fear and worry.

"C'mon, let's go tell the grown-ups!" Littlefoot began to run down the slope.

"No, wait!" Cera rushed out in front of him and grinned mischievously. "If we catch them ourselves, it'll show everyone that we're not babies anymore!"

"I don't know about that," Littlefoot tentatively replied.

"Look, scaredy," Cera forcefully got in the longneck's face, "there's six of us and only two of them. What could go wrong?"

Well…" Littlefoot bit his lip.

"I don't like it either," Aylene came from behind and climbed onto the longneck's back, "but it'll be too late by the time we get the adults. I think we can handle this one, just stay close to me, okay. I don't want to have another incident like the one we had today."

"You got it!" Cera nodded. "Now c'mon, let's go get them!"

Ducky leapt onto Spike and Petrie flew above the group as they raced after the egg stealers. Under the moonlight, the group couldn't see the two dinosaurs very well. It also didn't help with the fact they stopped under the shadows of trees. However, although they couldn't see them very well, she could defiantly hear them.

"Okay, now I get the first bite!" One snapped in a rough voice. "After all this was my idea!"

When she heard that, Aylene quickly slung her bow off her shoulder and grabbed an arrow with her right hand.

"Keep running, guys," She quietly ordered as she drew back the string, "Time to put my training to the test."

Aylene took aim at the patch of shadows among the trees and could just barely make out the two egg-eaters. Lowering her aim down slightly for a warning shot, she released the arrow. It zipped through the air and landed with a thunk in front of the Struthiomimus. The one that was about to take a bite out of the egg nearly dropped it as the unexpected shot made him jump.

"Drop that egg!" Cera shouted.

The two egg-stealers looked up and saw the group of young ones running toward them.

"Uh-oh!" The same one grunted. "We've been spotted! I told you not to be so obvious!"

The one holding the egg shoved it to the other one and then set off running. The second one looked at the egg for a moment before sharply looking up and racing after the other.

"Ozzy, wait for me!" He shouted.

"Bring back my brother!" Ducky cried. "Um, or sister!"

The two groups rushed across the valley toward the east wall. When the Gang reached the base of the cliffs, they stopped as the two egg-stealers nimbly made their way up the rugged paths in the wall.

"They're headed for the Mysterious Beyond," Cera nervously panted, "Maybe we should get help after all."

"It's too late now," Aylene replied, "They'll get away!"

Littlefoot ran forward and began to climb up the rocks with Aylene clutching onto his back. When the two got on the ridge, they looked back and saw that the others were hesitant, scared of the idea of going into the wasteland beyond the wall.

"This was your idea," Littlefoot harshly said to Cera, "Are you coming or not?"

Cera frowned for a moment, unsure of what to do. Littlefoot looked back at Aylene, who nodded to him. As if reading each other's minds, the two began to run along the same path as the egg-stealers.

Cera scowled for a moment before huffing and kicking up dirt with her left forepaw. She then rushed forward, smashed a large boulder to pebbles with a head-on collision, and raced after her friends. Spike, seeing the others move, began to run after them, too. Petrie flew above the group and began to look for the Struthiomimus.

"Me see them!" He yelled down to the group. "They heading up that cliff!"

"Good job, Petrie!" Aylene called. "Let's go. Hurry!"


	7. Chapter 6: Lost

**Lost**

Strongfang's eyes snapped open as he felt the earth beneath him tremble with thundering footsteps. He sharply looked up and saw a dark figure running toward the nest with two smaller shadows in front. As the night circle was full, it brightly shone down on the land. He knew exactly who was coming.

"RED CLAW!" He roared, causing his mate to wake up.

Rena opened her eyes and saw Strongfang quickly get to his feet. She looked at the mouth of the cave and saw Red Claw standing in the entrance, casting an ominous shadow into the hollow. Beside him were Screech and Thud, snarling viciously.

"Evening, Strongfang," Red Claw growled viciously, "I would say "good evening", but it won't be for you!"

"What do you want, Red Claw?!" Strongfang snarled as he stood protectively in front of his wife and their egg.

"Revenge!" The brown T-Rex sneered. "As well as eliminating the competition! Any members of Sharptooth's family must be destroyed!"

"You can't defeat me!" Strongfang roared ferociously. "Don't forget I'm the one who gave you that scar in the first place!"

"Oh, I remember alright!" Red Claw scowled.

The giant bitter and the fast bitters began to move in closer.

"Leave now, Red Claw!" Rena snarled as she stepped beside her mate.

"And you, Rena!" Red Claw angrily shouted, "How could you choose him over me? Not only is he Sharptooth's brother, he's also crazy! Do you honestly believe in the "balance of the world" nonsense like him?! Why would you choose him?!"

"I love Strongfang, Red Claw!" Rena responded with a strong conviction in her voice. "Not you! And I'm not sorry!"

"Not yet," Red Claw growled, "But you will be soon!"

Red Claw roared in rage and darted toward Strongfang. Strongfang evaded the attack and bit down on Red Claw's tail. The brown bitter snarled and thrashed around as Strongfang began to drag him toward the entrance of the cave. With a big effort, the dark green bitter threw Red Claw out, tearing off a small chunk of flesh in the process and tossing it aside. Red Claw stumbled for a few feet before falling flat on his back.

"Rena!" Strongfang shouted. "Take the egg and run!"

"I won't leave you!" Rena responded.

"You must!" Strongfang yelled. "Save our only hatchling! I'll be fine! Just GO!"

Rena hesitated for a moment. When she finally agreed, she turned around to grab the egg. She felt a nasty shock course though her when she saw that the nest was empty. The egg was GONE!

"No!" She cried out as she desperately scanned around the cave to find it.

Outside, Red Claw had gotten to his feet again and began advancing on Strongfang again.

"You'll pay for calling me a coward!" He roared as he lunged forward to bit Strongfang's throat. Strongfang back away just in time and snarled viciously, showing all of his teeth. "I WILL become the next "Walking Terror"!"

"You will never become the"Walking Terror"!" Strongfang snapped. "No one should become that!"

"And I suppose you're going to stop me?!" Red Claw angrily mocked.

"If I have to, then YES!"

Strongfang darted forward and attempted to bit Red Claw in the neck. Red Claw sidestepped and bit down on Strongfang's flank.

Strongfang hollered in pain as Red Claw's teeth sank into his skin. However, instead of thrashing around violently, he turned his head and bit Red Claw in the leg.

"AARRAAGGHH!" Red Claw roared in pain, releasing Strongfang from his grip.

* * *

Ozzy and Strut continued to make their way up the side of the cliff. Strut tossed the stolen egg up to Ozzy and hoisted himself up onto the ledge. The two stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

"How big are they?" Ozzy panted.

Strut nervously looked back. The night circle was on the edge of the cliff side and the shadows it casted of their pursuers made their silhouettes appear to be distorted and jagged. Most of all, they stretched a great deal, making them look massive despite the fact they were at least several yards behind.

"Oh, they're big!" Strut fearfully said as he turned to his brother. "VERY big!"

The two egg-stealers hastily made their way up the cliff. As Ozzy reached the peak and looked over, to his shock and horror, he saw that there was a large, deep gap that separated them from the opposite side about a foot lower than the ledge they were currently on.

When Strut joined his brother, they both looked for a way to get around it. However, their only two options were to either attempt the leap, or turn back toward their chasers.

"You first!" Ozzy shouted as he unexpectedly pushed Strut over the ledge.

Strut only had a second to react. He managed to slightly jump off the ledge, giving himself enough lift to make it across. However, he screamed as he flew across the pit and onto the opposite ridge.

Ozzy tightly gripped the egg with both hands and jumped across the gap, barely making the landing. The moment his feet touched the ground, the two sprinted off.

* * *

The Gang raced as fast as they could to the top of the cliff. They all stopped when they reached the crevasse that separated them from the opposite ledge. Petrie flew over and examined the gap. He then landed gracefully on the opposite edge and encouragingly looked back at the others.

"It not so far," he said, "you can do it!"

Littlefoot looked back at Aylene for a moment. Aylene fell forward and tightly gripped the base of his neck and shut her eyes.

"Just let me know when it's over!" She said in a trembling voice.

Littlefoot stepped back, then raced forward and jumped. Aylene screamed as the longneck left the ground and sailed over the abyss below. Littlefoot heavily landed on the ledge and stumbled forward a ways before coming to a stop.

"It's over," he said as he looked back at Aylene.

Aylene slowly opened her eyes and nodded.

"I hate heights!" She heavily sighed. "And I ESPECIALLY hate jumping from them!"

"No time to worry about that," Littlefoot replied, "We have to catch up with the egg-stealers."

"Right," Aylene sat up and looked back at the others.

"Spike, you next!" She ordered.

Spike didn't hesitate for a moment. He immediately jumped the crevasse. Although he didn't fully make the jump, he managed to grab hold the edge with his upper body and hoist himself up thanks to the ledge's rocky exterior.

"Ducky, get on and hold on tight!" Cera lowered her head, allowing the swimmer to climb onto the base of her neck.

Cera took a deep breath, let out a huff, and then ran forward. She jumped across the precipice and caught the ledge with her forepaws. She hastily raised herself up and crawled onto the ledge.

"We're okay," Ducky replied, "We are, we are."

"C'mon," Aylene motioned the others with her hand to follow, "We have to catch up with the Struthiomimus before it's too late!"

With that, the Gang set out once again in pursuit of the egg stealers. As they continued on, dark, ominous clouds began to cover the moon above them.

* * *

Rena franticly searched for the missing egg. As the cave was quite dark, and was getting darker due to the big sky puffies covering the night circle she couldn't see very well. So instead, she sniffed the air for the egg's scent. When she found it, she traced it from the nest toward some rocks near the back of the cave. She followed the trail and caught two other scents. They were from Red Claw's minions!

As she thought of this, she heard at the mouth of the cave two voices wickedly say,

"I got it!"

"Good, now let's get out of here!"

"Hehe, Red Claw's going to enjoy his revenge on this little egg, isn't he?"

The female bitter sharply turned and saw the shadows of Screech and Thud sneaking out of the cave. In Thud's clutches was a smooth, with object. THE EGG!

Rena roared ferociously as she darted toward the fast bitters.

"GIVE ME BACK MY EGG!" She bellowed.

Thud leapt back as the massive jaws of the angry female barely missed him. At the same time, as if the atmosphere wanted to add effects to the fight below, sky water began to come down in torrents and lightening flashed across the sky.

Thud lost his grip on the egg as he stumbled back and fell over. The egg rolled across the ground and off the edge of the cliff.

"NO!" Rena cried as she attempted to stop the egg. Sadly, she was too late.

Strongfang looked over to his mate and saw that she had fallen. He was about to call out to her when Red Claw made another lunge at him. Strongfang circled around and nearly bit Red Claw's tail. The two males snarled at one another as they began to anticipate the other's attack.

Rena, enraged by what happened, got to her feet and turned toward the fast bitters. She lunged and attempted to bite down on them. However, both were very quick and evaded her assault.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" She angrily cried.

The fast bitter raced away like the cowards they are toward the rocky plain they came from. Rena continued to race after them. The sky water merciless poured down and made her vision slightly blurry. The ground beneath her began to become slippery and made her feet stick.

For Screech and Thud, they quickly maneuvered through the rocks with little difficulty thanks to their size. While the mud beneath them slowed them down slightly, they still sprinted through the large boulder maze.

Rena chased them as far as she could before the rocks became too clustered for her to maneuver through. Anger and heartbroken, she hastily made her way back to help Strongfang.

* * *

The sharp-tooth egg fell rolled off the edge of the cliff and landed on a narrow ledge slanted downward. It rolled down the small path toward the swamp below. The ledge then jutted out at the end of the pathway, causing the egg to flip up into the air. It sailed over the murky swamp below and onto the opposite ledge close to the Great Wall. The egg finally landed right in the center of a skeletonized sharp-tooth foot, completely unharmed.

* * *

"I hope this egg is worth it," Strut heaved as the two egg stealers continued to climb up the cliff.

"Worth it?!" Ozzy snapped as he snatched the egg out of Struts grip. "ALL eggs are worth it, Bark Breath!"

Ozzy rubbed his face against the smooth surface of the egg before shoving it back into Strut's hands.

"Now, c'mon!" He ordered.

Strut obeyed and followed the elder Struthiomimus. He only stopped for a moment and looked over the edge, trying to see if the little followers were below.

"Who _are_ those guys?" He asked himself as he continued on behind his brother.

Lately, he and Ozzy had been hearing stories about the most feared sharp-tooth, Sharptooth himself, being defeated by six children: a longneck, a threehorn, a swimmer, a flyer, a spiketail, and a human. While the stories may have varied on how he was defeated, the detail of those six were involved was in every story they heard.

Is it possible that the ones chasing them were the same ones from the stories?

* * *

"Oh no," Cera moaned as rain began to fall from the sky.

"C'mon, we gotta keep going!" Littlefoot urged as the Gang walked through the same gulley the egg-stealers had taken.

Aylene got off of Littlefoot and began to walk beside him, shielding her eyes from the torrential raindrops. She struggled and strained her eyes to see what was down the path in front of them as they continued on their way.

"Acting grown-up is hard," Ducky sighed as she stopped on a rock to wipe her forehead, "it is, it is."

Ducky then crawled down the stone and ran to catch up with the group.

Petrie, worn out and winded, landed on Spike's back and fell flat on his stomach. His wings ached from all the flying he had to do and were nearly numb from the cold rain splashing on them. He heavily panted and groaned as he struggled to say awake.

"My feet hurt," Cera miserably sighed as the group pressed on

"Don't give up now, guys," Aylene encouraged, "don't forget we're the ones who defeated Sharptooth, the most feared T-Rex of them all."

Hearing about their past victory rose everyone's spirits, causing them to smile just a little in pride and determination.

"You're right, Aylene," Littlefoot nodded, "If we can defeat Sharptooth, we can stop those Strutha…uh…Struthma…um…"

The longneck struggled to form the word, but his mouth seemed unable to say it.

"Struthiomimus," Aylene finally said.

"Yeah, what you said," Littlefoot sheepishly replied before clearing his throat and saying, "Anyway, with that said, we better keep moving."

* * *

Ozzy and Strut reached a pile of rocks that stood between the Valley and the Mysterious Beyond. Using two other ledges like stairs, they hopped up onto an outcrop where the mouth of a cave opened up into the side of a large cliff on their left. Ozzy made it up with just simply two jumps, while Strut struggled a bit since he was carrying the stolen egg.

"Haha!" Ozzy triumphantly laughed. "We made it, Strut! Those little grass-nippers will never be able to follow us now."

He then turned and looked at their prize, ignoring how tired his brother was, and mischievously rubbed his hands together.

"It won't be long egg," the egg-stealer grinned, "Soon you'll be nestled in the pit of my stomach!"

Ozzy gave one more malevolent laugh before confidently strolling into the cave.

"Oz," Strut panted as he followed his elder brother, "when is it your turn to hold the egg?"

* * *

Shortly after, the Gang arrived at the base of the wall of boulders. The rain slowly began to become lighter as they looked around their surroundings for any signs of the Struthiomimus.

"Where'd they go?" Petrie asked.

"I don't see anybody," Cera said as she scanned the area.

Littlefoot and Aylene walked toward the base of the cliff that towered over them on their left. They both squinted as they both barely made out a dark opening on the ledge above them.

"They must've gone in there," Aylene said as she pointed to the cave entrance, "C'mon."

Everyone made their way up the small ridges and onto the ledge with the cave. While Littlefoot, Aylene, Petrie, Ducky, and Spike didn't hesitate to enter the dark cavern, Cera took one look into the blackness of the cave and became very nervous. She stepped back as her small fear began to take over.

"Cera, what's taking you?" Littlefoot forcefully asked as he and Aylene emerged from the shadows of the cave.

"Um, nothing," the threehorn shyly answered before snobbishly turning away and sticking her horn up in the air, "I just don't feel like going in there right now, that's all."

"Cera!" Aylene was about to protest when the Triceratops huffed in resistance.

"Alright then," Littlefoot sighed and turned back into the cave, "we're going without you."

As Aylene turned around and began to follow Littlefoot, she called back to Cera, "I hope you like thunderstorms!"

At that moment, a large flash of lightening cut through the sky and a clap of thunder seemed to shake the earth. Cera screamed in terror and raced into the cave.

"Shh!" Aylene sharply turned around and raised a finger to her lips. "Quiet!" She whispered urgently.

Cera nervously looked around as her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness. She could barely see the others, but just their outlines. Aside from that, she could hardly see anyting.

"It sure is dark in here," she nervously said.

"Next time, I'll be sure to bring a flashlight," Aylene shrugged.

As if responding to her idea, the Time Stone around Aylene's neck suddenly grew brighter.

"Whoa!" She jumped as the small burst of light startled her.

Everyone stared in awe and wonder as the charm grew brighter and brighter. After a second or two, it settled on a slightly dim, pale green light.

While the Stone didn't give off too much light, it was enough for the group to see their way around the cave as well as its structure. The interior seemed to be made of something that was like sandstone. Stalactites grew down from the ceiling, dripping water onto the stalagmites below.

"Well, that's handy," Littlefoot commented as he looked at Aylene's Time Stone.

"Heh," Aylene grinned as she took the charm between her thumb and index finger, "looks like I still have a lot to learn about this thing. I wonder what other kind of hocus-pocus it's going to throw at me next."

With a small source light guiding their way, the group quickly made their way through the caverns, hoping that they would find the egg-stealers before it was too late.


	8. Chapter 7: Found

**Found**

With the light of the Time Stone, the group of six carefully crept into the caves.

"Whoa!" Cera exclaimed softly when she looked at Aylene.

"What?" Aylene asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"You actually look kind of scary right now." Cera replied.

As the light of the Time Stone was underneath Aylene's face, the light cast shadows upward on her face, making her look rather sinister.

"Thanks a lot." Aylene mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

"Shh!" Littlefoot suddenly said as he stopped. "Listen!"

As they approached a corner, they heard the sound of the two egg-stealers catching panting and gasping for air.

Knowing that they were close, Aylene quickly grabbed the Stone to conceal its light, causing the caverns to once again be shrouded in darkness with only a subtle blue glow.

"Okay, Strut," one of the Struthiomimus said in a deep, commanding voice, "now it's my turn to hold the egg."

Everyone froze when they heard the egg-stealer lick his chops.

Ducky began to become frantic at the thought of her unborn brother or sister being eaten.

"We got to do something fast!" she whispered fearfully.

Aylene desperately began to think of a plan.

They had to get the egg away, but they also had to distract the Struthiomimus, too. If only they had something to scare them with then…

Wait! They DID have something to scare them with!

"_Cera, you are a genius!"_ Aylene thought before forcefully whispering; "Guys, follow my lead! I've got an idea!"

Aylene ran around the corner and let go of her Time Stone, letting it swing freely around her neck.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she shouted as she jumped in front of the egg-stealer that was about to take a bite out of the egg.

The egg-stealers both screamed in terror and dropped the egg as they turned toward the flashing light.

Standing in front of them was a terrifying creature with an angry scowl on its face. The light from the Stone around its neck created immense shadows on its face and body, making it look all the more intimidating.

As if to add to the drama, lightening flashed from outside and thunder echoed through the caverns as the rain began to stop.

The two egg-stealers took one look at the creature and immediately began to scramble around the cavern, screaming in a panic.

"GUYS!" Aylene shouted at the top of her lungs. "GET THE EGG!"

In all the confusion, the Gang rushed out and attempted to grab the egg that was rolling around on the ground.

As Cera approached it, she screamed slightly as she realized there was a pillar of rock in front of her. However, she didn't stop quickly enough and hit it with a tremendous force.

The column crumbled and the whole cavern began to shake. Chunks of rocks began to fall from the ceiling and crush the stalagmites below.

"CAVE-IN!" Aylene screamed. "EVERYBODY RUN!"

Littlefoot ran by Aylene and she quickly mounting onto his back.

Together with the rest of the Gang, they quickly raced to get out of the cavern.

From behind, a rolling wave of fallen rocks seemed to chase them right into a dead end. The impact of the rocks behind pushed them out of a weak spot in the wall and before they knew what was happening, they were flying out of the cave and onto the wall of boulders they encountered before.

The avalanche of rocks spilled onto the barrier and caused it to crumble away, taking the six children down the path toward a swamp in the Mysterious Beyond.

* * *

The same rockslide swept up the two Struthiomimus and carried them down the path back to the Great Valley.

The two tumbled down with the stolen egg falling with them.

"Whatever you do, Strut," Ozzy grunted as he tumbled down the wave of rocks, "don't, OW, lose that egg!"

Strut, after hearing the command, quickly and desperately tried to grab the egg as he surfed on a large slab of stone.

He almost got it in his clutches when the rocks abruptly came to a halt and buried the two egg-stealers.

Strut lost his grip on the egg and it rolled away from the fallen rocks. It continued to do so until it reached its nest and flipped up back into the cluster of its un-hatched siblings.

* * *

The Gang screamed as the slide of rocks carried them down toward a ledge that dropped right into murky water full of various dinosaur skeletons.

They rockslide came to a stop as the path leveled out and the group stopped just short of the edge. Only a few rocks toppled over the edge, breaking apart a skeleton as they fell into the swamp.

When it was all over, Littlefoot and Aylene sat up and shook away the dizziness from their heads. They both groaned and Aylene gripped her head as she felt a sharp pain rush through her brain.

"HELP!" Ducky's screaming voice broke the silence.

The longneck and human quickly got up from their spot and ran over to the edge. Ducky was just barely hanging on to the outcrop and Petrie was hanging onto her tail.

Aylene quickly bent down, grabbed Ducky, and hoisted her up along with Petrie.

"Are you guys okay?" the human asked as she set Ducky down on a small rock.

"Ugh," Petrie groaned as he landed on a clump of rocks, "Petrie not okay. Me hurt everywhere!"

Petrie fell over onto the stones and whined as his wings began to ache with dull pain.

Suddenly, the rocks below him moved!

Cera rose up to her feet as the rocks tumbled off of her. Petrie jumped as he saw that he was directly in Cera's angry face.

"Augh!" he squawked. "Good Cera!"

Frustrated, Cera snorted and blew the little Pteranodon off her face.

"Ow," the Triceratops groaned as she rubbed her horn with her paw, "I think I bent my horn."

"Where is Spike?" Ducky asked as she leapt off the rock and in front of Cera.

As if to answer her question, the ground below Cera began to shake and the spiketail in question emerged from the rubble.

Ducky shouted cheerfully as Spike walked toward her with Cera slipping off his back. The young Stegosaurus immediately started to smother the little swimmer with licks. Ducky laughed as she fell over onto her back, still getting overwhelmed by licks.

"Spike," she giggled, "stop it! I'm okay, I am!"

Pretty soon, everyone was joining with a laugh of his or her own. At least they were safe and together.

However, a loud roar from somewhere beyond interrupted their moment of joy.

* * *

Rena raced toward Red Claw and bit down on his tail hard just as the monster was about to bit Strongfang's neck.

Red Claw roared in pain and whipped around to the female bitter.

"Curse you, Rena!" Red Claw snapped as he attempted to bit her in the flank.

Strongfang ran forward with a tremendous force and knocked Red Claw away.

The scarred biter stumbled for several feet before falling over onto his side.

"Now get out, Red Claw!" Strongfang snarled angrily.

Red Claw struggled to get to his feet and shot the dark green biter a vengeful look.

"This isn't over yet, Strongfang!" he viciously warned. "You haven't seen the last of me!"

With that, Red Claw raced off toward the sea of rocks and disappeared.

Strongfang glared in the direction of his attacker for a moment until he heard his mate whimper. He quickly turned around and saw Rena collapse on the ground. She shivered violently as tears streamed down her face.

"Rena!" Strongfang exclaimed in alarm as he ran over to her. "Rena, are you hurt?!"

"Oh, Strongfang," the female biter sobbed. "I tried to stop them, but I couldn't save it!"

"What do you mean?" Strongfang fearfully asked.

"The egg!" Rena wailed in sadness. "I couldn't save the egg! It's gone!"

Strongfang froze in utter shock.

Their egg was gone! The male biter failed to protect his family!

Why?! Why did it always have to be this way!? First his father and now his future hatchling!

Feeling as if his heart had just been ripped from his chest, Strongfang lifted up his head and roared in anguishing sadness and anger.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Aylene looked sharply in the direction where the voice came from. Very faintly, the Stone around her neck flickered for a moment before turning dull again.

The Gang was now standing on the outcrop overlooking the swamp.

Scattered in the murky waters were skeletons of various dinosaurs from duckbills, to threehorns, to longnecks. Above them was the skeleton of a giant T-Rex that rested on a rock that curved over their heads.

When the five dinosaur children heard the sound of a violent roar, they all became fearful. It sounded agonizing and terrifying.

Spike immediately drove his head into the ground and trembled.

Petrie flew right past Aylene and gripped Littlefoot's neck, causing the longneck to choke.

"I want to go home." Cera whimpered.

"Petrie go home, too." Petrie whined as he looked up at Littlefoot with a fearful expression.

"But what about the egg?" Ducky reminded them. "We cannot leave it here all alone."

"I'm…I'm afraid it got smooshed." Littlefoot said sadly.

There was no way the egg could've survived that rockslide and he knew it. And Ducky's sad, tearful face made it all the more painful.

"Bye-bye baby sister." she sobbed as she slowly walked over to the T-Rex's foot. "Or baby brother."

Eventually, Spike lifted his head out of the ground and looked at the little swimmer. Seeing his adoptive sister upset made Spike whimper in sadness. Since he was also part of Ducky's family, it was like he had also lost a family member, too.

"Don't cry, Ducky." Littlefoot said, trying to comfort the swimmer. "It's…It's all part of the Great Circle of Life."

Aylene gently placed hand on Littlefoot's shoulder and shook her head sadly. Now was not the time to bring that up.

"Besides," Cera replied in a comforting voice, "there's a whole nest full of eggs at home."

"Yes," Ducky sniffled and sat down between the T-Rex's skeletonized claws, "but this one was special. It was going to be my favorite favorite. All blue and orange and speckled: there was not another egg like it in the whole world."

Aylene was about to say something when a pearly white object above Ducky caught her attention.

"Wait a minute." Aylene mumbled as she walked over to it.

She knelt down and pulled out an egg that was nestled in the foot of the T-Rex.

"Guys, look what I found!" she exclaimed.

"THE EGG!" Ducky happily shouted.

Aylene brought the egg over to the swimmer as the other sighed in relief.

But as soon as Aylene saw it next to Ducky, she knew right away that this wasn't the egg from Ducky's nest. It was too big to be a Saruolophus egg.

"Oh, hello, baby brother or sister!" Ducky said happily as she hugged the egg and rubbed her face against it. "Hey, you growed! This is going to be a very big baby brother or sister!"

"Well at least we know it's safe." Cera sighed with relief.

"Now we just need to get it back to the nest." Petrie stated.

Littlefoot's smile soon turned into a worried frown when he looked at Aylene.

Usually, the Apatosaurus could tell when something was troubling the human, but this time her emotion was unreadable. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't frowning either. She just seemed to stare at the egg with a blank expression.

"Everything okay, Aylene?" the longneck asked.

"Huh." Aylene said as she quickly looked at her friend before responding with: "Oh, yeah."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Cera asked as she started back toward the pass. "Let's get it back to the nest. I can't wait to tell the grown-ups how we saved the egg."

"Yeah, they no treat us like babies anymore." Petrie replied in a triumphant voice as he flew off the ground and after Cera.

The group slowly made their way toward the opening with Aylene carrying the egg in her arms.

The girl bit her lip as she looked back and forth between her friends and the egg. She was going to say that this egg wasn't Ducky's and that eggs don't just grow on their own, but she didn't seem to have the heart to speak the truth. So instead, she kept her mouth shut.

She already made her friends feel awful twice in one day; and right now she didn't want to strike out with a third.

"_I just hope I did the right thing."_ Aylene thought.

She looked at the egg again and began to wonder about what was really inside it.

* * *

Strongfang tenderly nuzzled his mate as she continued to shed tears.

Their only future hatchling, one they had tried so hard to protect, was now gone. There was nothing they could do but accept the fact, even if it was painful.

"I'm sorry, Strongfang!" Rena grimaced. "I tried to save it, but I couldn't get to it in time."

"No," Strongfang replied in a low, comforting voice, "it was my fault. If I hadn't insulted Red Claw, he wouldn't have wanted revenge. I'm to blame for all of this. I'm the one who should be sorry."

Rena slowly lifted her head and nuzzled her husband's face.

Strongfang returned the gesture, grateful that he at least still had his wife.

"Let's just move away from here." the female said bitterly. "The sooner the better."

Strongfang nodded in agreement. He wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible.

As Rena got up, Strongfang sniffed the air for any sign of Red Claw and his minions.

Instead, he caught six other scents: one of a young longneck, threehorn, duckbill, flyer, spiketail, and one that wasn't of any dinosaur he knew of.

He followed the trail of the scent and found that it was just on a ledge below them. As it was still quite dark, he couldn't really make out what was at the bottom of the cliff. All he could see were six small, black dots near the edge of the swamp below.

"What is it, Strongfang?" Rena asked.

"I think I smell breakfast." the male biter replied. "C'mon. We're going to need our strength if we're going to travel. And the climb down the cliff is going to take us at least most of the morning."

* * *

It was nearly sunrise when the Gang got back to the nest. Ducky and Spike's mother and siblings were still asleep as they approached the center of the group.

Aylene carefully set the egg down on the ground and Ducky began to roll it back to the nest. As she approached it, however, she stopped short and gasped.

"Go on Ducky." Littlefoot whispered. "Put it back."

"It IS back!" Ducky replied. "Look!"

All six gathered the nest and looked in it.

To their surprise, there were still seven eggs all nestled together!

"_Thank goodness!" _Aylene thought; relieved that none of the eggs were harmed.

However, that still left one question: who's egg DID they find?

* * *

A few minutes later, the Gang found a secluded place and put the strange egg nicely in a clump of grass.

"So, if Ducky's egg was there all the time, who's egg is this?" Littlefoot asked.

"Well, it is possible that the Struthiomimus we chased last night stole this egg." Aylene replied. "And we just happen to see them walking by Ducky's nest."

"Yeah," Littlefoot said, "but do you know what kind of egg it is, Aylene?"

Aylene looked over at the egg for a moment. "Well, it is pretty big. It might be a sauropod egg. Or a longneck egg, as you would say. But I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with dinosaur eggs, so I really couldn't tell you."

"Well, either way, we won't know for sure until it hatches." Cera pointed out.

"Yes, then we can take it back to its family!" Ducky cheerfully suggested.

"But who's going to take care of it until it hatches?" Littlefoot questioned.

"We are, of course." Cera answered gruffly. "After all, we're not babies."

"I'm not so sure." Aylene said as she got up from her place and began to walk away. "I think we should tell the grown-ups about this."

"No!" Cera snapped and ran after the human.

The Triceratops caught up with Aylene and stepped right in front of her, making the girl stop dead in her tracks.

"If they find out where we were, they'll put us back in our nests!" Cera said harshly. "We don't tell the grown-ups anything!"

Aylene stared at Cera for a moment. This idea was probably the worst one that Cera had suggested yet.

"Promise?!" Cera said through her teeth as she forcefully got up in Aylene's face as much as she could.

"Okay, okay, I promise!" Aylene replied as she nervously backed away.

"Good." Cera snorted. "Now let's get back home before anyone notices we're gone."

As the others made their way back to they're nesting grounds, Littlefoot and Aylene walked together.

"Are you sure you can keep that promise?" Littlefoot tentatively asked. "You know that it's a risky one."

"I don't know, Littlefoot." Aylene shrugged. "I just hope I can do the right thing."

A few minutes later, the two found themselves back at Littlefoot's nest.

Exhausted and achy, Littlefoot settled down and Aylene curled up against his side. The moment they were comfortable, they instantly fell asleep, despite the sun's brilliant light shining down over the wall.

However, their chance for sleep was short-lived.

About an hour later, which felt like a few minutes later, they both felt something nudge them and a gentle voice say: "Littlefoot, Aylene, it's time to get up. The sun is already rising into the sky."

Littlefoot and Aylene both tiredly opened one eye and looked up at Grandma Longneck, groaning from their lack of a good night's rest.


End file.
